Posts: 17

Topic: AVG flagging site as URL Phishing

Just had to add Booksie as an exception to my AVG Internet Security Software to access the site. I was getting a URL Phishing issue along with a PR_Connect_Reset_Error. I was just on here yesterday and the only thing that changed was a PC update that I'm aware of which could've thrown things out of whack. I know something like this was brought up in another thread just thought I'd let anyone know if they can help me fix the issue without using the exception rule in my security software.

Also, I do occasionally access the site using VPN so there is that to take into consideration. Thanks.

Re: AVG flagging site as URL Phishing

Re: AVG flagging site as URL Phishing

I'll admit I'm paranoid, but first Norton then AVG it seems to me somebody has it out for Booksie.

I don't know anything about AVG, but I have to assume they have a way for members to report bad sites as Norton does. Here is the thing it wouldn't take much to get a bunch of people to report a site if you know what forums and chat rooms to go to. So I think we need to ask ourselves why somebody would want to mess with Booksie. Accounts are banned almost daily, but 99.999999% of them are companies and they would never resort to this kind of thing. Of the other banned accounts, most are want to be trolls who lack the knowledge to pull this off. Those that have the knowledge would also have the skill to do worse.I theorize that the person doing this is from another writing site, not an admin or even a moderator, I think a couple of them have moderators, just a member. They probably cross paths with a Booksie member and words were exchanged. Insults were thrown back and forth and in the end, the Booksie member basically told this other person to do something that anatomically impossible because their writing site sucked. Unable to hurt the Booksie member this other writer resorts to a cowardly troll attack on Booksie.

Re: AVG flagging site as URL Phishing

A.S COOPER wrote:

a tremendous amount of trouble

It would take posting on three or four forums to get the ball rolling not much trouble at all. Hell, you could do it in less than thirty minutes if you know which forums to hit, which I won't be naming.

A.S COOPER wrote:

I dont know what these warnings are based on

How it works is easy, you have some kind of security on your computer protecting you from viruses and such. A lot of them have an option to report sites so all it would require is you to use this option and report a site. One report isn't going to do anything, but you find a bunch of people with no life who enjoy causing problems and have them report the site also. Suddenly a site that isn't doing anything bad is being flagged. If enough people complain it will be corrected, but sometimes it will take a good bit of time. This method won't work on any major site, but Booksie may have tons of members but it is relatively an unknown so it is an easy target.

The really messed up thing about this is that even if it is cleared up all it would take is a new round of reports to cause the same problem again.

Re: AVG flagging site as URL Phishing

Re: AVG flagging site as URL Phishing

AVG and Avast are owned by the same parent company if I'm not mistaken. I recall reading about it several months back on some software related site. As for the ongoing conspiracy brought up by Ian, I can believe it to some degree but don't purport to going that far down the rabbit hole just yet. I believe that the heuristic scans and other algorithms are probably clashing with changes in the internet environment somewhat.

Also, I did noted that my browser seemed to give me a PR_Connect_Reset_Error also which I believe is related to the security certificate somehow. I'm running Firefox by the way and it may have been an issue with that not being up to date for whatever reason.. Because that's what popped up before I got the URL Phishing issue with AVG. I'm not a computer expert but I know the certificates relate to how the website is classified and handled by the browser and security software. If, I'm wrong then please someone correct me on this. If that is the main problem, I would love to fix that issue first to see if it resolves the problem. Just not sure how.

Re: AVG flagging site as URL Phishing

A.K.Taylor wrote:

I'm not a computer expert but I know the certificates relate to how the website is classified and handled by the browser and security software. If, I'm wrong then please someone correct me on this. If that is the main problem, I would love to fix that issue first to see if it resolves the problem. Just not sure how.

Unless the certificate was stolen and compromised by hackers. It would happen when the same certificate is in use simultaneously on various sites by various people. For example, the certificate of a software company is in use on the phishing shop or bank site. Of course, they would mark sites with compromised certificates as dangerous.